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[vireland]

Hmm imo WD translation is only pretty good. Not the best or anything. Their voice-acting is mediocre too. Konami is much better than them in that regards.

Localization preferences (and especially voice acting preferences) are really, really subjective, but come ON, you can't honestly make a blanket statement that Konami is "much better", with a straight face can you? For their AAA+ titles like Metal Gear, etc, I'd totally agree, but there's a ton of dross in their drum, too. Like...


Rumble Roses

Silent Scope

and Castlevania, for God's sake!

 

[vireland]

Should be back tomorrow, since I think we almost have it.

Along with an update showing off your upcoming line-up, right? ...Right?

Let's get back up and running first, and then we'll talk...

 

[Scott]

Heh, fair enough. I'm really curious to see what you guys have been working on, though, so don't make me wait too long.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Ah, Gaming-Age Forum. Mr. Ireland speaks up at last to clarify the situation, and you all go on arguing like nothing has happened. Oh Gaming-Age Forum, when will you ever learn?

:lol

You rock, Vic. Been a fan since Lunar on the Sega-CD (note the handle).

 

[Hero]

If Working Designs meant anything this past generation I might care about the website.

 

[duckroll]

Localization preferences (and especially voice acting preferences) are really, really subjective, but come ON, you can't honestly make a blanket statement that Konami is "much better", with a straight face can you? For their AAA+ titles like Metal Gear, etc, I'd totally agree, but there's a ton of dross in their drum, too. Like...

Just to back you up here, even for Metal Gear, they sometimes slip. Metal Gear Ac!d was a pretty piss-poor job from Konami USA and I even started a thread with digicam pics some time back expressing my grief. Nothing sucks more than wasting your time in a mission because the card text tells you the WRONG ammo usage. >_<

 

[DarienA]

Let's get back up and running first, and then we'll talk...

Now that's funny.

 

[jarrod]

While I admit his vision of the DS was shortsighted....the games they brought to the Saturn alone are worth more than your pathetic fanboy lives. Go piss on someone else's grave.

Eh, I thought Irom Storm, Rayearth and Dragon Force were the only ones worth it. Albert Odyssey & Shining Wisdom were total wastes, especially when Saturn was literally overflowing with quailty RPGs (Tengai Makyo 4th Revelation, Grandia, Sakura Taisen, Princess Crown, Black Matrix, etc). Plus Vic jumped ship early, and we got inferior PS ports of ThunderForce V and Silhouette Mirage instead of the lovely Saturn originals.

WD was at their best on Sega CD imo (Lunar 1-2 & Popful Mail). Alundra was great on PS1 roo. Outside those games (plus Rayearth, IS & DF) I could definitely live without them though.

 

[NotMSRP]

Thanks for the site.

 

[jgkspsx]

Should be back tomorrow, since I think we almost have it.

Good to know

 

[CO_Andy]

WD will always be one of my favorite publishers due to the fact they bring games from the East that no one would dare touch.

 

[shantyman]

So Ironic. He claims the DS is dead in the water and now his company appears to have died before the PSP/DS.

Not Really. Working Designs has/had been around for well over a decade.

 

[goodcow]

Localization preferences (and especially voice acting preferences) are really, really subjective, but come ON, you can't honestly make a blanket statement that Konami is "much better", with a straight face can you? For their AAA+ titles like Metal Gear, etc, I'd totally agree, but there's a ton of dross in their drum, too. Like...


Rumble Roses

Silent Scope

and Castlevania, for God's sake!

Oh God, this site is great.

http://www.audioatrocities.com/games/shiningforce3/clip3.mp3

 

[Shin Johnpv]

You could make the same argument about the Japanese version of the game which has Japanese culture references to it. However, that's beside the point. Regardless of whether or not you like the jokes, there isn't denying how good WD is at translation.

Atlus is way too inconsistent even if they're timely. I mean look at Stella Deus. It was a fast turn around but the voice-acting was terrible and the script was really dry and akward.

There is plenty of denying "How good" WD is at translations

I'm sorry but they aren't good at it

and the voice acting in Stella Deus is NO WORSE than any voice acting heard in any of the WD releases

I'm sorry but people have come along that do what WD did an assload better than them, in a much faster time too. I've said it 1000 times before, if WD had brought Disgaea over we STILL wouldn't have the game here, while Victor desides which paper stock is best for the cardboard possable characters and the best fake leather for the instruction manual, along with stupid Old School movie references added in for good meassure



or better yet since Victor posts here how about an explenation why it takes them LONGER to translate a game then it takes a developer to make it

 

[Deleted member 284]

or better yet since Victor posts here how about an explenation why it takes them LONGER to translate a game then it takes a developer to make it

To be fair, WD does not have the budget of a Namco/Enix/Nintendo, so I can understand why a game doesn't get translated as fast through his company. Remember, the improved translations from the developers is a relatively new experience for the North American market as a whole.

 

[NotMSRP]

WD makes a lot of internal adjustments to the actual game that is why it takes longer. If they just translate the script and send that to the developers in Japan to replace the JP text, the game would be done in a much much shorter time frame. This is how other companies do it anyways since most JP companies are unwilling to let their source code step outside of the JP HQ offices.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

Eh, I thought Irom Storm, Rayearth and Dragon Force were the only ones worth it. Albert Odyssey & Shining Wisdom were total wastes, especially when Saturn was literally overflowing with quailty RPGs (Tengai Makyo 4th Revelation, Grandia, Sakura Taisen, Princess Crown, Black Matrix, etc). Plus Vic jumped ship early, and we got inferior PS ports of ThunderForce V and Silhouette Mirage instead of the lovely Saturn originals.

WD was at their best on Sega CD imo (Lunar 1-2 & Popful Mail). Alundra was great on PS1 roo. Outside those games (plus Rayearth, IS & DF) I could definitely live without them though.

Let's say hypothetically that they never brought us anything but Dragon Force. That alone would be worth the goodwill of serious gamers everywhere, I would think. I agree, I wish there was more on Saturn rather than the Playstation efforts. But again, this is a small company that basically brings over a few titles that we would never see here. Occasionally we're none the richer for it, but who would complain about getting a few obscure Japanese RPGs we would probably never get translated otherwise?

I think there's just a lot of sour grapes here based on what platforms they support.

 

[jarrod]

Let's say hypothetically that they never brought us anything but Dragon Force. That alone would be worth the goodwill of serious gamers everywhere, I would think. I agree, I wish there was more on Saturn rather than the Playstation efforts. But again, this is a small company that basically brings over a few titles that we would never see here. Occasionally we're none the richer for it, but who would complain about getting a few obscure Japanese RPGs we would probably never get translated otherwise?

I think there's just a lot of sour grapes here based on what platforms they support.

Sure, I'd agree with that. And while I didn't support their move from Saturn, I could at least empathize with it (horrible treatment by SOA plus the dwindling US Saturn market would make anyone jump ship I think). I strongly disagree with Vic's stance on DS though, especially when there's a fantastic Goemon adventure screaming for localization. Big mistake there I think.

 

[Kintaro]

Let's say hypothetically that they never brought us anything but Dragon Force. That alone would be worth the goodwill of serious gamers everywhere, I would think.

I think there's just a lot of sour grapes here based on what platforms they support.

WD has my thanks for a lot of games they're brought over. Games I wouldn't have enjoyed otherwise. But, in this generation? There are none from WD. Perhaps Growlanser, but Altus and NIS has completely taken over in the realm of bringing over niche JRPGs. Altus should forever have the goodwill of serious gamers for Shin Megami Tensei (N, and DDS). Hell, Atlus should be on the fuckin Golden Goodwill Hall of Fame for the Orge games!

I don't think people actually give two SHITS about WD's platforms they support (Vic's words bout DS got OWNED this E3 though), they just want WD to bring some GAMES over. Good shit. Just get it done! That's what people want.

 

[duckroll]

WD makes a lot of internal adjustments to the actual game that is why it takes longer. If they just translate the script and send that to the developers in Japan to replace the JP text, the game would be done in a much much shorter time frame. This is how other companies do it anyways since most JP companies are unwilling to let their source code step outside of the JP HQ offices.

So you're saying that WD is the only company that tweaks games for US release? Maybe back in the Saturn era, but now just about everyone does it some way or another. Atlus even started the trend of moving CD sized games to DVD just so they could put dual-language tracks into their games.

 

[Pellham]

Which Square Enix and Nintendo SNES English RPGs have "mostly wrong" and "barely comprehensible" translations?

I remember that Ted Woolsey barely had a high school/college understanding of japanese, and his game translations showed how terrible his work is. It's amazing how many Square fanboys (including the biggest Square fan of them all) worshipped him.

 

[duckroll]

I remember that Ted Woolsey barely had a high school/college understanding of japanese, and his game translations showed how terrible his work is. It's amazing how many Square fanboys (including the biggest Square fan of them all) worshipped him.

But but but.......

 

[Pellham]

But but but.......

oh the horror!!!!!

 

[Mareg]

Eh, I thought Irom Storm, Rayearth and Dragon Force were the only ones worth it. Albert Odyssey & Shining Wisdom were total wastes.

Albert Odyssey a total waste :lol :lol ... I can't desagree more. IMO, Odyssey was a brilliant game and the perfect exemple of WD translation flair. I think they actually pulled the medal of honnor for funniest games script in an RPG. I generaly prefer my RPGs to be serious and dark. Albert Odyssey is the only one I can tolerate.
Now, if they could only have tweaked the battle load times even more !!! They where the worst evaaar !

aaaaah, and for Shining Wisdom... well it was meh and I agree with you. Still, its in my collection, if only for manual greatness

 

[NotMSRP]

So you're saying that WD is the only company that tweaks games for US release? Maybe back in the Saturn era, but now just about everyone does it some way or another. Atlus even started the trend of moving CD sized games to DVD just so they could put dual-language tracks into their games.

Any tweaks are done often at the home JP offices and the tweaks are often minor like bug corrections. Atlus/NIS/Gust are able to rework their games from single language to dual language in a much shorter time frame than WD who hasn't produced any dual language games even with source code in hand. NIS/Gust are small companies too I believe.

 

[jarrod]

Anyway... Working Designs gameography!


TurboGrafx-16
-Cadash (Taito) 1991
-Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III (Taito) 1991

Turbo CD
-Exile (Nippon Telent/Rennovation) 1992
-Cosmic Fantasy 2 (Nippon Telent/Laser Soft) 1992
-Vasteel (Human Entertainment) 1993
-Exile: Wicked Phenomenon (Nippon Telent/Riot) 1993

Sega CD
-Lunar: The Silver Star (GameArts) 1994
-Vay (Sega/Sims) 1994
-Magical Popful Mail Fantasy Adventure (Sega Falcom) 1995
-Lunar: Eternal Blue (GameArts) 1995

Sega Saturn
-Iron Storm (Sega) 1996
-Shining Wisdom (Sega/Sonic) 1996
-Dragon Force (Sega) 1996
-Albert Odyssey: The Legend of Eldean (Sunsoft) 1997
-Sega Ages Vol. 1 (Sega) 1997
-Magic Knight Rayearth (Sega) 1998
-Lunar: Silver Star Story (Kadowkawa Shoten/JAM) canceled

PlayStation
-RayStorm (Taito) 1997
-Alundra (SCEI/Matrix Software) 1998
-Elemental Gearbolt (SCEI/Alfa System) 1998
-Thunder Force V: Perfect System (TecnoSoft) 1998
-Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (Kadowkawa Shoten/JAM) 1999
-Silhouette Mirage (ESP/Treasure) 1999
-Vangard Bandits (Human Entertainment) 2000
-RayCrisis: Series Termination (Taito) 2000
-Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete (Kadowkawa Shoten/JAM) 2000
-Arc the Lad Collection (SCEI/G-Craft/Arc Entertainment) 2002

PlayStation 2
-Gun Griffon Blaze (Capcom/GameArts) 2000
-Silpheed: The Lost Planet (Capcom/GameArts/Treasure) 2001
-Growlanser Generations (Atlus/Career Soft) 2004
-Goemon (Konami/KCEK) canceled

PC
-Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (???) canceled

 

[john tv]

Of all those, I would have to say Alundra was my favorite in terms of overall package. Great game, great localization...just an all-around awesome experience.

I enjoyed the Lunars as well, back on Sega CD, though it started getting old when Game Arts kept re-releasing them on different platforms. (They're still trying to today, believe it or not.) Kinda sad how that series has gone down the toilet, especially now that Ubi got Marvelous to make that turd for DS...

 

[Sho Nuff]

I remember that Ted Woolsey barely had a high school/college understanding of japanese, and his game translations showed how terrible his work is. It's amazing how many Square fanboys (including the biggest Square fan of them all) worshipped him.

Terrible? Go play "Secret of the Stars" and then tell me how bad Woolsey's translations are. Can you give me an example of why he sucks?

Also, Stella Deus's voice acting is the audio equivalent of explosive diarrhea.

 

[jett]

"You spoony bard!" and "Son of a submariner!" are funnier than anything WD ever wrote. I never had a problem with Ted Woolsey's translations. To call them "barely comprehensible" is just retarded.

 

[jarrod]

I enjoyed the Lunars as well, back on Sega CD, though it started getting old when Game Arts kept re-releasing them on different platforms. (They're still trying to today, believe it or not.) Kinda sad how that series has gone down the toilet, especially now that Ubi got Marvelous to make that turd for DS...

GA didn't handle any of the Lunar remakes/rereleases, they just licensed the IP out.

Lunar DS looks putrid, but I wouldn't mind seeing SSSC or EBC show up on PSP. Or maybe Magical School. Really though, I've always preferred Grandia to Lunar... give me Grandia DS & PSP GA!

 

[john tv]

GA didn't handle any of the Lunar remakes/rereleases, they just licensed the IP out.

Lunar DS looks putrid, but I wouldn't mind seeing SSSC or EBC show up on PSP. Or maybe Magical School. Really though, I've always preferred Grandia to Lunar... give me Grandia DS & PSP GA!

Yah, the point wasn't who made them, just the fact that they were made. They wore out the series welcome, IMO.

 

[john tv]

"You spoony bard!" and "Son of a submariner!" are funnier than anything WD ever wrote. I never had a problem with Ted Woolsey's translations. To call them "barely comprehensible" is just retarded.

I was referring more to Enix's translations myself, though Final Fantasy II and Secret of Mana were pretty atrocious as well.

 

[Shin Johnpv]

I was referring more to Enix's translations myself, though Final Fantasy II and Secret of Mana were pretty atrocious as well.

I don't think Enix cared though I mean shit I was a huge Enix fan during the NES days and was part of their little club thing kept supporting them during the Start of the SNES and even bought that god awful piece of shit 7th Saga and how did they repay the US by mailing out letters bassicaly saying they feel their games were too hard for the US and would stop releasing games here, well minus 7th Crap 2

I really think then they just didn't give 2 shits about the US market

 

[Shouta]

There is plenty of denying "How good" WD is at translations

I'm sorry but they aren't good at it

Then you better cite some specific games, lines, what's wrong with their translation, and the proper translation. If you even try to cite the jokes as a reason as to why they "aren't good at it", I'll ban you.

 

[djtiesto]

Better a company taking a long to translate a relatively obscure game, than not even bother to translate it all, IMO.

 

[element]

who the fuck cares.

 

[Open Source]

Many better companies have come and gone and not been so loudmouthed and annoyingly self-important in the process.

 

[PC Gaijin]

Then you better cite some specific games, lines, what's wrong with their translation, and the proper translation. If you even try to cite the jokes as a reason as to why they "aren't good at it", I'll ban you.

There's been some odd sexual innuendo in various WD games that I always wondered if WD put in or if something similar was there to begin with. From "Van, is that a spear in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" in Cosmic Fantasy 2 to Umi's "feeling moist" in MKR :lol.

I think WD's problem is that Mr. Ireland probably does his company's image a lot of damage by what he says online. It's definitely not Derek Smart level of outrageousness, but he might be better served spending less time posting in game forums and more time trying to get the games out the door.

 

[Legal Step]

and nobody noticed...

was that the punchline

 

[madara]

But but but.......

Funny I actually loved that game. Say what you will of its FF7 amatuerish attempts but its bizarre story and dialogue I thought was amazing.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

I think WD's problem is that Mr. Ireland probably does his company's image a lot of damage by what he says online. It's definitely not Derek Smart level of outrageousness, but he might be better served spending less time posting in game forums and more time trying to get the games out the door.

It's definitely not Derek Smart level of outrageousness,

Derek Smart

*Waits patiently*

 

[Dalamar86]

PlayStation 2
-Gun Griffon Blaze (Capcom/GameArts) 2000
-Silpheed: The Lost Planet (Capcom/GameArts/Treasure) 2001
-Growlanser Generations (Atlus/Career Soft) 2004
-Goemon (Konami/KCEK) canceled

Still crying.

As retribution you must localize Goemon DS if Konami never bothers.

 

[Shoryuken]

Funny I actually loved that game. Say what you will of its FF7 amatuerish attempts but its bizarre story and dialogue I thought was amazing.

I totally agree. The battle system was horribly generic, but I really liked the story and dialogue.

 

[PC Gaijin]

*Waits patiently*

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

 

[Cheerilee]

A couple random thoughts.

I don't think Ted Woolsey had anything to do with Final Fantasy II. It was all the other SNES-era Square games.

Working Designs is the Antichrist of videogame translations. Sure they seem godly. And I myself have been hypnotized by them on several occasions. But that's because they're the absolute embodiment of evil.

I like it that Vic is willing to speak him mind. Even when I don't agree with him. It's nice to know where a company stands. Even on "minor" issues that are often "beneath" the bigger companies.


Although I'm not tempted by you. I'm not. I'm not! I know the truth!

*runs off to get some cardboard and a magic marker*

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Working Designs is the Antichrist of videogame translations. Sure they seem godly. And I myself have been hypnotized by them on several occasions. But that's because they're the absolute embodiment of evil.

Harsh, man. I'd hate to hear your take on EA's Borging up the industry. The venom would melt my monitor. :lol

 

[CO_Andy]

What iz there to complain about in WD's translations?

Comparing Ubisoft's translation for Lunar GBA to WD's translation of the PSOne title, it's clear WD goes the extra mile to inject some personality into their games rather than putting the generic text associated with this genre.

I also don't mind their voice-actors. Anything's better than hearing the usual suspects who do anime dubbing as well.

 

[Cheerilee]

Harsh, man. I'd hate to hear your take on EA's Borging up the industry. The venom would melt my monitor. :lol

EA's evil and ugly and nasty and all that kinda stuff, in ways I probably don't even want to know about.

But WD is a more "pure" form of evil. It makes them charming. Like Dracula or something.

 

[jarrod]

Albert Odyssey a total waste :lol :lol ... I can't desagree more. IMO, Odyssey was a brilliant game and the perfect exemple of WD translation flair. I think they actually pulled the medal of honnor for funniest games script in an RPG. I generaly prefer my RPGs to be serious and dark. Albert Odyssey is the only one I can tolerate.
Now, if they could only have tweaked the battle load times even more !!! They where the worst evaaar !

aaaaah, and for Shining Wisdom... well it was meh and I agree with you. Still, its in my collection, if only for manual greatness

Well, I was speaking more to the value of games themselves than the translations... there's like 20 Saturn RPGs I'd have rather seen in place of Albert Odyssey or Shining Wisdom. Really, the whole US Saturn situation is pretty tragic... it's almost as bad as TG16 was in terms of hardware mismanagement and market abandonment. I can't imagine owning either platform without importing.

As far as WD translations, I like them okay. They're fun, they're stupid but at least they keep me interested (unlike Ubisoft or SCEA hackjobs). I also appreciate Atlus for their straightforward translations too though and Square Enix's stuff is very readable as well... I think Nintendo might have the best translation department around though these days. They manage to strike the perfect balance between accuracy and personality in their stuff almost every time.

 

[jgkspsx]

While this thread is going on and Mr. Ireland is checking it sporadically...

I never did get an answer to this on RGVS back in the day, Vic
I'm stuck in Alundra with one falcon left from that damn roulette wheel. Is there some trick I'm missing, or are the odds just colossally bad?